Dongfang Mingyue and I returned to Chang'an.

In late April, spring is in full bloom, and it is the season of all things to match.

Spring heart floats.

The people in the court are also very spring-hearted, and there are constantly people saying something at the court meeting.

Someone said: "Now that the world has been decided, the emperor should show the emperor's style." ”

Someone said: "It is impossible for the emperor to have only two queens, at least there should be a dozen concubines, dozens of imperial concubines, and hundreds of Zhaoyi, isn't it?" Otherwise, where is the emperor's face, and where is the face of 4.6 billion subjects? ”

Someone said: "Even if the emperor doesn't want to burden his subjects, but the subjects feel sorry for the emperor, no one feels sorry." Even if the emperor never enjoys just wanting to take care of everything, his subjects will never agree! ”

Someone said: "There are only a few thousand palace maids in the palace, too few!" In the past, Zhu Zhaoding, who ruled the empire together, was incomplete, and there was no way to be fortunate to women, so there were such a few women. And my Tang Empire is so majestic, how can there only be such a few women in the harem? ”

……

Fortunately, this is an ordinary court meeting, and the two queens are not present, otherwise it would be really difficult for the ministers to speak.

Emperor Li Hongsi on the dragon chair kept nodding.

Zhao Yuyang stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, when Your Majesty was the prince in the past, he was suave, this is human nature; Later, the world was in turmoil, and His Majesty naturally had no intention of men and women for the sake of the world; Now that the world is unified, Your Majesty should rebuild the royal family. There is no doubt that the survival of the world depends on the royal family. If there is no royal family in the world, what is the meaning of the world? ”

The Emperor nodded.

Zhang Qiangsheng stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, it is said in the Book of the Elders that marriage is one of the ways to enhance imperial power. Power is mutual, the emperor gives power to the locality, and the local gives power to the emperor. Your Majesty can choose an imperial concubine in each province, and you will naturally be able to control the provinces, and the provinces will also be loyal to Your Majesty. ”

The Emperor nodded.

Yang Mingyang stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, now that the world has been decided, we should be angry and strong, and we should not think too much about the affairs of men and women." Now there are Mongolia and the Western Regions in the north, Jinling in the east, and there are still cults in the hinterland......"

Before he could finish his words, the emperor frowned.

Yang Mingyang continued: "Besides, isn't Zhu Honghua's lesson enough in the past? ”

The emperor looked unhappy.

When the ministers saw that the emperor was not happy, they immediately went up, like a pack of wolves pounced on a sheep.

Someone said: "What does it matter if you are outside the court and inside the harem?" ”

Someone said: "When a dynasty flourished, it wasn't when the harem flourished?" ”

Someone said, "What does this mean, Prime Minister?" The emperor only has a dozen children now, which is too little, right? What does this mean that your children are much better than the emperor's children? What does this imply? ”

Someone said, "Does the prime minister mean something else?" ”

……

Yang Mingyang: "I'm not against it, but I just suggest that it be postponed for a while, because there are other things, such as Jinling and the cult......

Wang Weijin sneered: "The prime minister is afraid that outsiders will come to Gyeonggi, right?" hinders your position. ”

Yang Mingyang's face was uncertain: "I have always been for the Tang Dynasty, for the court, and for the world." I take care of every opportunity every day, work hard, never for myself, all for the emperor! ”

Wang Weijin: "Then you can go to Rili to take care of your ten thousand opportunities, and don't bother the prime minister with the matter of choosing a concubine!" ”

Yang Mingyang opened his mouth and didn't speak.

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When the news of the concubine election came out, Queen Pu Qinghong knocked over the vinegar jar. She openly said that palace maids can have them, but "there is no need for imperial concubines".

At the court meeting, people kept talking about the draft of concubines. The court was divided into two factions. On the one hand, there are Zhao Yuyang, Zhang Qiangsheng, Zheng Anmin, An Ningri, and other imperial officials, Beijing officials, local officials, and scholars, all of whom support it. One faction is Park Qinghong and Yang Mingyang, and they are opposed.

It's easy to understand. Those who agreed were all eunuchs and local officials. The eunuchs were the imperial faction, dedicated to the emperor. And the rest of the scholars actually wanted to send their women to the palace.

The second faction is selfish. Park Qinghong doesn't want other people's women to compete for favor, and she doesn't want other relatives to threaten her status as her first relative. Yang Mingyang is the most famous clan in Gyeonggi, and it is difficult enough to deal with the people of Liaodong, if there are really any other relatives, how can he deal with it?

People quarreled for a long time, and the first faction prevailed – at least in the quarrel. The people in the inner court all rely on their mouths and brains to eat, how can Yang Mingyang quarrel with them! Queen Park Qinghong was embarrassed to quarrel in person, and Yang Mingyang was speechless.

As a result, the draft of concubines was put on the work schedule of the imperial court.

However, this job is not easy to do.

The imperial court originally wanted to go to various places to choose concubines in person, but - the imperial court had no money. The treasury has long been empty, and there is one yuan to spend one yuan, and one yuan is broken into two halves. The only taxes paid by the imperial court were Gyeonggi Province and the two cities of Luoyang and Kaifeng, and the rest of the provinces were full. For example, Shandong, which taxes tens of millions of gold yuan a year, gives Chang'an hundreds of thousands of pocket money. Don't be too little, Shandong is interesting enough, Hebei's tax revenue is hundreds of millions, so it will symbolically pay tens of thousands, and Lingnan taxes will be hundreds of millions, and not a penny. Zhang Qiangsheng is studying the issue of banknotes, but he still has no clue. The Royal Ministry of Commerce is still negotiating with the General Private Gang. The general private gang asked the court to repay the money first, and then borrow money; And the imperial court had to borrow money first and then pay it back - the two sides were in a stalemate for months with no progress.

So, the imperial court issued a holy decree to send women from all over the country.

And the provinces are not at all enthusiastic about the draft. Yes, what province is willing to anger its own people and curry favor with the royal family. If you think about it, sending hundreds or thousands of palace maids not only costs the people and money, but also harms thousands of families. It is Chang'an who gets the benefits, and it is yourself who is unlucky, which province is so stupid!

However, there is great enthusiasm for the selection of concubines in various places. Not only did they send women, but they even paid a large dowry. You see, just by giving away a woman, you will turn yourself into a relative of the emperor. It's useless, but it looks good. Especially those military leaders who took advantage of the chaos in the world and climbed up from the bottom, they couldn't let go of this opportunity.

As Zhang Qiangsheng said, as the "Book of Power" said, "power is mutual, power is imaginary, power is development, power is cause and effect", the two sides have this relationship, naturally can ensure mutual loyalty.

The Book of Power in the Book of the Elders says that the way to ensure that the other person is loyal to you is not that you give the other person a favor, but that the other person gives you a favor. When I read this a few years ago, I thought it was a mistake, but now I realize that it's correct – at the end of the day, it's all about self-awareness. You feel that you are a relative of the emperor, you feel that you are loyal to the court, and you have done things that are loyal to the court, so you will always be loyal, and you will think that you are loyal to the court from beginning to end.

When I used to read books, I saw the intricate marriages of the upper echelons of the imperial court, and I was puzzled in my heart: why didn't they look for love on a wider scale? Logically speaking, true love can be found in large circles more than in small circles. Later, I realized that here, "marriage" and "love" have nothing to do with each other, "love" does not exist at all, everything is a transaction, and it is all for power.

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Both East Chang'an and West Chang'an are lively. The ruins of a few months ago are almost cleared again - why do I say "again"? ——People from other provinces were amazed by the prosperity of Chang'an. The imperial palace in West Chang'an is a miracle of existence, while the urban area of East Chang'an represents the charm of tradition.

Hey, in fact, Chang'an is much more dilapidated now than ten years ago, of course, people from other provinces don't know, they are still surprised by the momentum of the imperial capital.

The provincial missions all sent the eldest daughters, real or fake.

Some of them are beautiful, and some are not beautiful - the beautiful ones are how many years of veteran scholars, and a long time has allowed them to eliminate their ugly genes; Those who are not beautiful are the outbreaks, and there are still traces of the bottom in their bodies.

For the imperial court, it really doesn't matter if they are beautiful or not, if they really want to be beautiful, they will not choose from a very small number of scholars, but will choose directly from the Qinglou, directly from the Oiran Conference - although most of the girls at the bottom are rough, they can still mutate into stunning beauties who captivate the country and the city.

For most provinces, the status and beauty of girls are the same, such as Xiliang, Liaodong, Hebei, and Shandong; But for those perennial chaotic provinces, this is very inconsistent, such as the Central Plains, Qianzhou, Yunnan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The court is very clear about this, and when they choose concubines, they never look at the girls themselves, only their life experiences.

However, among so many missions, there was a girl whose appearance still shocked the court and shocked people.

In the bustling ranks of the missions in East Chang'an, it seems that everyone is the center, and it seems that everyone is not the center; In every human heart, he is the center of the world; Of the countless "everyone", there is no center of the world at all. However, on that day, the world did have a center. Wherever that girl goes, she is the center of the matter. Because she is so beautiful, so beautiful that people can't take their eyes off it.

What is "beauty"? Is beauty a tradition? Is beauty a rule? Is beauty a prejudice? No, beauty is in our hearts, in our genes. Beauty is innate, and beauty is divinely given. Now such a beautiful girl is right in the center of the crowd. Her appearance proves the essence of beauty, the human heart, the principle of heaven, and the truth.

Where she is, she is the center of the world.

This reminds me of Dongfang Mingyue's wedding back then, no matter where she was that day, she was the center. I think of Dongfang Mingyue's wedding, mainly because the identity of this girl reminds me of Dongfang Mingyue's wedding, because she is the girl who can only appear in the Shi clan at the head of the 12th family of Tianzi - how many thousands of years have passed, after the genetic inheritance of the smartest and most beautiful women in each generation, to this day, as if a miracle, as if fate, the inevitable in the inevitable, finally produced such a girl; Because she is the sister of the former queen Zhao Yishu - Zhao Yihao.